Oz

by Bobbie Darbyshire

Mark Jonnson’s life is a mess.
He’s been cheating on his wife, fears his marriage is over, but can’t bear to leave his boisterous 7-year-old daughter, Matilda.
Just when he thinks things can’t get worse, his mother is killed in a road accident. Shocked and grieving, he decamps to her house, where he uncovers a secret that will turn his life upside-down and send him and his daughter on a whirlwind search for the truth.

292 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

About the author

Bobbie's fifth novel, 'The Third Bus' was published in October 2023. Her earlier novels are: 'The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker', 'Oz', 'Love, Revenge & Buttered Scones' and 'Truth Games'.

She won the 2008 fiction prize at the National Academy of Writing and the New Delta Review Creative Nonfiction Prize 2010. She has worked as barmaid, mushroom picker, film extra, maths coach, cabinet minister's private secretary, care assistant and volunteer adult-literacy teacher, as well as in social research and government policy.

Her latest novel is 'The Third Bus': An unappreciated man walks out of his dispiriting 42-year marriage with no destination in mind. At Victoria coach station, on the spur of the moment he boards a coach to Norwich. A late-life coming-of-age story, mixing humour and sorrow, hope and regret.

Bobbie's four earlier novels are:

'The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker': A world-famous superstar actor – think Laurence Olivier crossed with Jack Nicholson – dies, but to his astonishment finds he’s still here among us. He’s able to watch the effect of his mean-spirited will on those left behind, including his son (cycling along on the cover) and even his cat. If your spirits are in need of a lift, it’s a real feel-good book that will keep you hooked.

'OZ': Mark Jonnson's life is a mess. He fears his marriage is over, but can't bear to leave his boisterous 7-year-old daughter, Matilda. Just when he thinks things can't get worse, his mother is killed in a road accident. Shocked and grieving, he decamps to her house, where he uncovers a secret that turns his life upside-down and sends him and his daughter on a whirlwind search for the truth.

Sarah Rayner, author of 'One Moment, One Morning', says of 'Oz', "What a delight to find a novel that's both a page-turner and a nuanced exploration of characters. The tensions and subtleties of relationships of marriage and parenting across the decades are explored with delicacy, yet the storytelling never falters, as a constantly evolving plot keeps you hooked until the last page."

'Love, Revenge & Buttered Scones': Long-listed for the 2011 International Rubery Book Award. In this comedy of errors, three troubled people dash off to the Scottish Highlands, where their destinies are mysteriously entwined around a reading group in the Inverness public library. Twists & surprises, very funny with also some dark, serious threads, it keeps you guessing throughout.

'Truth Games': In 1970s London, the blazing summers of 75 & 76, a group of friends get out of their depth in infidelity. Thought-provoking, amusing & sexy, a book about how we hurt each other with lies and with truths.

Find Bobbie on Facebook or follow her @bobbiedar

Reviews

[NoirBlogger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book to read once I'd arrived home but actually read the whole thing on the journey as once I had started I felt compelled to finish. The book is written with the customary wit and intelligence I have come to expect from this author. Mark's mother dies young and very suddenly and his world is turned upside down by a secret his mother kept from him. What follows is a bitter sweet story of a man trying to make a bond with his father and at the same time save a marriage that has been floundering for a long time. The thing I found most interesting was the sympathy I had for Mark, even though he had cheated on his wife. I was really routing for him in the end when the custody battle is possibly about to begin. The person I didn't like was Gina, the wife, even though in the end I realised she was the one I "should" have been routing for because she was the one who found parenthood difficult and wasn't really a "parent" person. As Bobbie Darbyshire is female I did find myself wondering how much this impacted on the character development of the story. Did the male character become the female? I may be reading too deeply into this. Certainly, if I had written the book because I am childless (by choice- no sympathy please) I might well have made Gina more sympathetic as she would represent "my view" so to speak. It's fascinating, however that I was drawn to the "child friendly" parent. I think possibly this is because I knew more about him and his thought processes. I certainly didn't warm to Matty, the child very much. Becoming a parent is clearly a huge life changing event and Gina was clearly unsuited for the job. Deciding whether or not to procreate is very much a personal choice and I have often felt that far too much pressure is put on women to conform. You are female, your role in life is to give man his baby. That's probably too blunt for most people and they would argue that it's completely a joint decision and how wonderful it all is. Doubtless it is for some, possibly most but what if ….. How many, male and females bow to pressure? Oz certainly gives food for thought and is an excellent read to boot. Highly recommended

[Moz Copestake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't quite finished reading yet, but will update when I have. I bought the book from the author when she came to give a talk at our u3a. She came without the usual PowerPoint slideshow and I thought "Is this gonna work?"
It did, she was engaging and charming with her polite soft spoken voice. I would recommend her as a speaker. I am not a binge reader but expect I will read all of her novels in the next few years.
Which brings me to 'Oz'. Her central characters seem almost her antithesis; sordid, self obsessed, confused, disfunctional, amoral people with a veneer of respectability - almost as though the author is hiding from us here. Not that I should really judge her from such a brief and impersonal encounter.
The two main threads come together slowly, with a few surprise twists straddling the millennial divide. The book starts with a death and follows its life-changing consequences, as a life is revealed to the bereaved. The novel is fleshed out with diverse but believable people - flawed, insecure, amusing, loving people.
I have 70 pages to read and these threads are accelerating, converging at speed. I have read, in reviews, that there is a neat ending. I am looking forward to it but wanted to get my thoughts out before the big reveal - it has the capacity to change my perspective. Off now to see where it's taking me.

Okay - the final chapters come at you fast, staccato. Answers are found, some neat twists, including some nice subtleties - good attention to details. It's an emotional ride. Somethings are resolved. Others not. A great finalé but maybe not quite what I expected.

[Katharine Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this - didn't want it to end. A poignant, engrossing read with brilliantly drawn characters that I'm sure will stay with me

[Judi Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oz by Bobbie Darbyshire, published by Cinnamon Press, 2014

When I read the sample of this, it was the best sample I’d read on my Kindle. Of anything. Ever. And I read a lot of samples. So I actually bought a brand new copy of the book (something I seldom do – impoverished writer labouring in garret, yada yada). And now that I have finished the whole thing I can truthfully say that it is the best book I have read this year. Or am likely to read. It is as rich and full of interesting material as is a fruit cake: a beautiful piece of work.

Why is it so good? Now we have to tiptoe round the spoilers. Here goes. It slips between three time periods and three protagonists with consummate ease: the reader is never left behind.

All the main characters are beautifully rounded, even the ones we meet only fleetingly are shown to us economically and vibrantly.

The Matilda character is one of the Great Child Monsters of modern, or indeed any, fiction.

I have read Darbyshire dealing with the Seventies before (in Truth Games) and she really brings that period alive. Here she does the same for the recent and slightly-less-recent past as well. But as the root of the story is 1978 it is vital that should be vivid. And it is. I was there and I can tell you that for a fact.

But the best thing about Oz is the way it shows the extraordinary in ordinary lives. If you were sitting down to write the story of an ordinary bloke (Mark), and you threw a single ‘whatif?’ in there you might expect some interesting ripples. And there is only one ‘whatif?’ but the ripples from it meet the ripples from Mark’s life and nothing that follows is what you might expect. I pride myself on being able to second guess the directions plots will take as they come towards me: I was wrong every single time with Oz. And yet the new direction was absolutely right, every time. And the ending was completely satisfying. When could you last say that about a novel, when you’d just read the last page? Cracking read. Treat yourself.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was captivated immediately by the protagonist Mark’s first-person narrative. Bobbie pulls no punches in exposing the reader to the full rawness of Mark’s sense of loss, following the tragic death of his mother and in the context of his crumbling marriage. And we are left in no doubt as to the ferocity of Mark's love for his small daughter Matilda.
Shortly after his mother's death, Mark finds out that she had a secret ‘friend’ he knew nothing about and he is pitched onto a voyage of discovery from which there can be no turning back.
The action alternates between the present and the past. The present day sections are written from Mark’s perspective in the present tense and the historical parts (beginning in 1978) are written in the third person and the past tense. I am not normally a fan of novels written in the present tense, but here there is a clear rationale for its use, with the divide between then and now clearly delineated.
The past sections fill in Mark’s mother’s backstory. Mark never becomes aware of much of this, of course, but nevertheless it aids the reader’s understanding of his character. By the end of the book, past and present have been skilfully converged and not only are old secrets laid bare, but ultimately Mark comes to a better understanding of himself as a man.
Mark's sorrow at his mother's passing, his ambivalence towards her 'friend', the end of Mark's marriage, and his love of his daughter were all expertly drawn. The other characters also had depth, particularly 6 year old Matilda, who was undoubtedly the star of the supporting cast! Both dialogue and narrative were equally strong and the ending was satisfying and well-rounded.
All in all, I would thoroughly recommend Oz if you want to be taken on a journey which is simultaneously heart-rending and entertaining.
Well done Bobbie and looking forward to the next novel!

[Robert Ronsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bobbie Darbyshire has done a nifty cross-gender job here. (Female author writing first-person narrative by male protagonist.) I never doubted the 'maleness' of her main character Mark. The novel is well constructed using two time zones and Bobbie's control of revelation is masterful. She's subtle though and you don't realise how much you've invested in the characters until one of them is in danger.
One of the 'blurb' reviewers says that the book "touches on a tough and important subject that doesn't get enough coverage - the tremendous burden that children can be for those who don't want them." "Touches on" is correct and this one of the negatives of the book - it treats this element of the story perhaps too superficially? This isn't helped by the final chapter that ties up the loose ends. In her acknowledgements Bobbie thanks "Dinah Wiener for insisting on one final chapter". I'm not sure that Bobbie should have taken this advice. I feel the novel would have had a more lasting impact without it.
Nevertheless, this an engrossing read and, in my opinion, is the best novel yet in an original and top-quality body of work.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one were to outline the story and the plot, it may sound like a fairly standard family melodrama - as well as being a spoiler. So I won't. What lifts this superb novel above that level is the quality of the writing, for example the intimate subtlety of the character portrayals. This is a writer with considerable wisdom about how humans interact, and how their background is ever-present. The prose is elegant, the characters subtly drawn. For me, the greatest impact was from the description of the father-daughter relationship; how a precocious child can be engaging to the one parent and difficult to the other. This is the relationship you’re really backing. I liked deft poetic touches where the writer captures something of a relationship and a scene simultaneously, eg: “Matilda grabs my hand, the one that isn’t full of damp money, with hers, the one that isn’t clamped around Little Penguin.”

[Cherry Potts · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is nothing like Christmas to provide time for reading and things to read. this was top of my list and didn't disappoint.
I read in two gulps staying up quite late for the first. complex family relationships and a sudden bereavement are convincingly portrayed. Although called Oz and mainly narrated by Mark, it is Nancy and her ability to let people around her make their own decisions who is the heart of the story. Oz is regrettably and satisfyingly spineless but Mark I found a little hollow as a narrator. I never quite believed his distress. Laugh out loud moment from young Mattie and a bucket of sea water on Bondi Beach. I would have liked a longer, more complex story with more of Nancy.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oz truly is a wonderful piece of fiction, and one that I struggled to put down at any point. The story moves along at a quick pace, with lots of twists and turns along the way, and I always found myself wanting to turn just one more page. All of the characters felt alive, both in terms of their actions and their mindsets, and the protagonist proved to be a particularly intriguing individual.

At times thrilling, at times heart-wrenching and consistently gripping, Oz is a book I would happily recommend to anyone. Go ahead and buy it, and have fun reading.

[Ali Devine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant novel from Bobbie, down to earth, touching the heart with a story of grief, confusion and surprise in one man's life. Gripping till the end, believable, engrosses you so you can imagine yourself there every step of the way. Fab read

[Danielle Prenzler · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst I loved that this book briefly visited Cremorne Point I couldn't find much to like about any of the characters in this book, and therefore wasn't really invested in the outcome. I plodded along but ultimately wouldn't recommend it.

[Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was bought this as a present and loved it. Read it straight through very quickly. I haven't come across this author before and I'll definitely read more of her work. The story is well paced, tackles a tricky subject about the difficulties of having children and has engaging characters.